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National VHPA Site
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June 2012 Meeting Recap
Many thanks to all of you that made the meeting on
Saturday morning. The picture shown here will be forever frozen in time. Only
two comments regarding the photo: First, Clay Keown, our friend and historian,
is not in the picture as he was taking it. Thanks Clay. Second, The guy hiding
in the back row on the right side is one of our newest members, Les Smith of
D/3/5 Cav – 9th INF 68-69. Les, you’re going to have to stop hiding when we take
pictures, otherwise I’ll be forced to sneak up on you during the meeting and get
a candid shot. Nuf said!
- We recapped the April Huey Dedication at the
Museum of Flight and based on your comments, the chapter will be adding a
section on the website to view our
pictures. (Already done)
- John Crossman gave a quick briefing on the
progress of the Huey repainting fund. We’re still collecting money, but with
a huge $250 donation by Frank and Barbara Jones, we have reached our first
goal of the paint. Thank you Frank and Barbara, you make us all proud. Now
we can concentrate on collecting extra to be used to spruce up the interior
(paint, soundproofing, seats and webbing). We will use everything we receive
for this project within this project alone. For those of you that have not
had an opportunity, please consider a donation of $20 - $25 for a great
cause.
- We also reminded all of our commitment at the
American Heroes Airshow at the Museum of Flight (Boeing Field) on the 14th
of July. Steve Vermillion, our Junior Member at Large, will be heading this
effort and he tells me that we could use a few more guys to spread the load
for those who have signed up. The idea is to get as many folks on this
project so that everyone doesn’t have to spend the whole day there. Please
give it your consideration and let Steve know at steve@stevevermillion.com
if you can help us out. We will have the Huey there and Steve has also asked
that if you have some Vietnam stuff that you would like to display, please
let us know. We need everything. Thanks also to Dave Saunders, who has
stepped forward once again to make the actual haul from Olympia to BFI and
back. Dave, you haulin’ son of a gun, thank you.
- New business was a little thin, but we did talk
about offering a new level of chapter membership, the Lifetime Member. For
those of you that are interested, we’d like your comments. We talked about
various amounts, but generally we said that a $250 investment was not out of
the ballpark for those in attendance. Now, keep in mind that nothing will be
done on this until the Executive Committee has an opportunity to bang out an
agreement and it is voted on by you the membership. Part of that discussion
centered on the actual payment and that we should allow an individual to pay
for this membership over the course of the year, rather than making one
large lump-sum payment. I think most folks would agree with that, provided
that it is complete within the year. More coming on this topic and I want to
hear from you whether you’re for or against such a membership level. I’m at
206 604 0505 and at mhansen@king5.com.
- We sold a dozen and a half of our new
embroidered T-shirts on Saturday, along with hats, patches, pins and
stickers, all with our new chapter logo. All this stuff and more is always
available to you by clicking on ‘VHPAWA Gear’
and downloading the order form.
- We also discussed the viability of creating our
own challenge coin for the chapter. It’s not a done deal, as we have much to
do in the design area before we can proceed. I do have some experience in
the development of a challenge coin, but would welcome your involvement if
you have a desire to get involved. Even if the only thing you want to
contribute is a design idea, it would be welcomed. Based on past experience,
the development costs of bringing 200 coins to life costs between $5 and $10
per coin. Interested? Let me know.
- The final subject was a reminder that our next
‘official’ meeting will take place on August 18th and will begin at 11:30 at
the Timber Creek Grill Buffet in Spokane. The address is 9211 East
Montgomery Ave. and can be reached at 509 892 6390. Members Jerry Mellick
and Hal Thornton have headed up our east side connection and have done us
all a service by coordinating our chapter efforts east of the mountains.
Thank you guys, we all appreciate your time and efforts. Now, all you
members know that you’re invited to this luncheon……right? Free lunch to all
of you that join us on the 18th. I will be putting out another notice to all
about a month before, so don’t worry, you won’t forget.
That’s about it. We had a great meeting, drank a lot of coffee and ate 4
dozen donuts and ruined our lunch…..again.
Cheers to you all,
Mark Hansen
2012 Chapter President
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